A hardline Islamist leader rejected on Tuesday a UN-brokered peace pact signed in Djibouti by the Somali government and some opposition figures, and vowed that war would continue. We dont see that as a peace deal, we see it as a trap, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys told reporters by phone from Eritrea. We encourage the insurgents and the Somali people not to be tired of combating the enemy. Somalias interim government and some members of the exiled opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) signed a deal late on Monday calling for the deployment of UN peacekeepers and agreeing to a ceasefire after one month.
The people have been waiting a long time, so we have a weight of responsibility on our shoulders, Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein said at Mondays ceremony. He shook hands with ARS chairman Sheikh Sharif Ahmed in the first face-to-face contact between the two delegations during two rounds of talks in Djibouti.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2008 00:00 ||
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The former Libyan Muslim Brotherhood movement leader, Salah Shalwi owed his resign, two days earlier, from the movement, to several factors, including the positive developments in the Libyan scene. He says, in a phone interview with El Khabar, from his residence in Switzerland, he wants interacting and working with the national forces in this context.
El Khabar: You have owed your resign from both the Libyan and International Muslim Brotherhood Organization, for the changes taking place in Libya. Could you tell us more what kind of changes you are talking about?
Salah Shalwi: Well, there has been a political deviation in Libya for ages, however, the developments I referred to were statements made by Saif Islam Kedaffi as well as movements noticed in the political scene by independent social forces, while starting raising important initiatives. In turn, the Power has started recognizing having committed faults. I think all these are positive and strong signs able to launch serious debate on core political and social issues.
El Khabar: Will you now focus on struggling for creating political parties in Libya?
Salah Shalwi: Creating political parties in Libya has been banned since the Monarch system. As far as Im concerned, I wont activate outside the law, Id always respect it. However I wont cease calling for opening the political field for creating new parties.
El Khabar: You have talked about faults being committed by World Muslim Brotherhood Organization, while alluding to the General Guide of the movement Cheikh Mahdi Akef. Could you explain more defects you shouldered to the World Leadership?
Salah Shalwi: Nobody could deny sacrifices and hard work of our big brother Mahdi Akef, yet, he is not competent, politically, to lead the organization, as he has committed irreparable faults, which tarnished the organization image. For instance, during the Israeli attack against Lebanon, he declared that the group possesses 10 thousands fighters, ready to join the battlefield in Lebanon. I think such declarations have involved the group in troubles. Id like however to deny the existence of those fighters, even here in Libya.
El Khabar: How would you assess the performance of Political and Preaching Islamic organizations in the Islamic World nowadays?
Salah Shalwi:Well, these organizations were created during a crisis in the Islamic Nation; however, I think all efforts being made to raise awareness and facing challenges in Islamic Nation, have been acceptable, while any human act is exposed to fail and success.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2008 00:00 ||
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Two Royal Navy destroyers could not fire their missiles if they came under attack - because they have been removed to save cash. Type 42s HMS Exeter and HMS Southampton have been working without their Sea Dart guided missile system since Christmas, it was revealed today. To go with the cutbacks, at least half a dozen operating crew have been transferred to other ships.
The missiles, used to protect the destroyers and larger aircraft carriers against air attack, have been stored away even though HMS Exeter has sailed to the Mediterranean twice and joined a NATO-led operation in that time.
It has provoked anger from defence sources who claim the navy is suffering from short-term cost cutting. Rear Admiral David Bawtree, the former Commander of Portsmouth Naval Base, said: "It seems to be a sign of the times that there is a lack of willingness to spend money.
"It is surprising that the destroyers are sailing without their primary defence, though I would add they still have lesser gun defences.
"But you only have to look at the comments in the media about Army pay to see there is disgruntlement, and spending is much, much lower now than during my time."
Sea Dart - first used successfully in the Falklands War in 1982 - will be phased out as the new Type 45 Daring class destroyers come into service. But Southampton and Exeter are still supposed to be fully operational until 2009. Even the Navy website for HMS Southampton advertises that Sea Dart is her primary armament.
Former naval officer and editor of Warship World, Mike Critchley, said: "You cannot claim to have ships doing a job before the Type 45s come in when in fact they are missing vital abilities.
"As a taxpayer it is not reassuring to see an expensive destroyer like Exeter engaged in not much more than a PR tour."
Defence Select Committee member and Portsmouth South MP Mike Hancock said: "I am very surprised to learn that we have warships coming out of British waters without their main air defences. Questions need to be put to the Navy asking how that was allowed to happen because you cannot have ships deploying without important equipment."
A Royal Navy spokesman said: "I can confirm that Sea Dart was deactivated in both ships last year, as part of a short-term financial planning decision to save money. It was carried out in Exeter during the summer, and then in Southampton after her deployment to the South Atlantic at the end of the year.
"The ships have a specific operating staff for Sea Dart and they have been transferred to other ships, and the missiles have been moved to storage. However, the firing equipment has remained in the ships and that means Sea Dart can be reinstated if operational priorities change.
"With regards to HMS Exeter and her visits to the Mediterranean, a risk assessment would have been carried out and the level of danger was not felt to be excessive."
The Sea Dart is a surface-to-air missile system built by British Aerospace (BAe) and has been in use since 1977. It is fired from the deck of the ship out of a cradle carrying two missiles at a time, and targets planes and other missiles. A specially-trained weapons crew and warfare team operate the system, which can protect a fleet from threats up to 40 nautical miles away.
It was originally fitted to both the Type 42s and Invincible class aircraft carriers, but was removed from the carriers during refits between 1998 and 2000 to create space on the flight deck for the RAF Harrier GR9 aircraft. Since then the destroyers, which are supposed to support and protect the carriers, have retained the system.
The Sea Dart was used during the Falklands War and is credited with seven kills, including a British Gazelle helicopter downed by friendly fire.
The system continued to be used in the 1991 Gulf War, and was credited with the first validated engagement of a missile by a missile when it downed an Iraqi silkworm weapon.
The Type 42s have a range of other weapons. The ship carries a 4.5 inch medium range gun, which is maintained for use at any time, and with a Lynx helicopter embarked the ship gains further offensive power.
The navy's new Type 45s will not carry Sea Dart but will be fitted with a more modern missile system.
#9
Why would anyone be surprised? NATO was and remains nothing more than military welfare for some of the richest countries in the world. Free riders. Their efforts in Afghanistan are nothing more than workfare to convince the gullible Americans to continue to expend annually billions more to their lavish neo-socialist life styles. They're like those on the dole in New Orleans who 'expect' others to take of them, rescue them, to provide the basics of life. 'Woe is me' is not a program.
#10
Chances are they'll turn to the oil sheiks soon to replace NATO, at which point control of nukes is a lost cause entirely, as opposed to being nearly a lost cause.
#12
Unbelievable - perhaps they should add a Corvus to facilitate being boarded.
So if something breaks out somewhere, like the Falklands or russians threatening their deep sea North Atlantic rigs, they have to be re-supplied before going into theatre?
#13
Removing one missile system doesn't totally neuter a ship in battle. Don't ships generally fight in what is called a Battle Group? Many ships using complementry systems to both defend and project power?
#14
Wouldn't it have been cheaper to just leave the missiles in place?
Posted by: ed ||
06/11/2008 12:04 Comments ||
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#15
So the namesake of the WWII HMS Exeter would be hard pressed to face a modern day version of the 'Graf Spee'. This is all so sad, and sadly, predictable. Where does the line form for the surrender ceremony. Out with a wimper.
Posted by: Total War ||
06/11/2008 13:14 Comments ||
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#16
If I recall correctly, Sea Dart is a thoroughly obsolete system that isn't capable of shooting down missiles and would be of little use vs land-based missiles in the straits of Hormuz.
Its also probable that these ships aren't likely to be threatened by enemy aircraft that won't be handled by other weapons. The RN has ships that can handle Argentinian and Iranian aircraft if they had to.
And the missiles themselves are very old. I wonder just how well they would work.
The larger truth is that these ships (type 42's) are ancient and of little use for much these days, other than for ASW, if that. I suppose the ships are still kept around to keep the crews in practice. The RN has been starved of funds and new ships for too long.
#17
Buwaya, the C-201 is an old chinese copy of an even older soviet design. Its max speed is 0.8 mach, its a couple meters long and has wings and a large radar cross section.
Its what the SeaDart was designed to operate against.
And even a poor anti-missle defense is better than nothing at all - as Im sure you'd agree were you to be crew abord that ship tasked to go to the straights.
#19
If I recall correctly, Sea Dart is a thoroughly obsolete system that isn't capable of shooting down missiles and would be of little use vs land-based missiles in the straits of Hormuz.
That's not the point. The point is that naval warships put to sea and took part in patrols and exercises without one of their weapon systems in tip-top operating condition. In fact, the Type 42 DD's armament is as follows,
Armament:
Twin launcher for GWS-30 Sea Dart missiles,
4.5 inch (114 mm) Mark 8 naval gun,
2 x 3-tube STWS-1 launchers for 324 mm (12.75") A/S torpedoes,
2 x 20 mm Phalanx CIWS (not on Argentine ships),
2 x Oerlikon / BMARC 20 mm L/70 KBA guns in GAM-B01 single mounts,
4 x MM38 Exocet anti-ship missile launchers (only on Argentine ships)
Note that those Exocets are only mounted on Argentine ships. Without Sea Dart, that leaves the ship with
4.5 inch (114 mm) Mark 8 naval gun,
2 x 3-tube STWS-1 launchers for 324 mm (12.75") A/S torpedoes,
2 x 20 mm Phalanx CIWS (not on Argentine ships),
2 x Oerlikon / BMARC 20 mm L/70 KBA guns in GAM-B01 single mounts,
or 1 single weapon which could be used for anti-ship duty (the torpedoes are intended for anti-submarine duty and the Phalanx and Oerlikons don't have ranges effective nough to make them worth using for anything other than close-in defense work which is what they're intended for. That 4.5-inch gun has a rate of fire of 25 rds/minute (approximately) and a range of 12 nautical miles.
By comparison, the Harpoon ASM has a range of 60-150+ nautical miles, the Standard ASM has a range of 65-100 nautical miles, the Chinese Silkworm a range of 150+ nautical miles.
That 12nm gun ain't gonna' help when the enemy's shooting at you from 5 times that distance away.
All those ships can do is run away fom an enemy or act as targets for enemy missiles.
Two House members said Wednesday their Capitol Hill computers, containing information about political dissidents from around the world, have been hacked by sources apparently working out of China.
Virginia Rep. Frank Wolf says four of his computers were hacked. New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith says two of his computers were compromised in December 2006 and March 2007. The two lawmakers are longtime critics of China's record on human rights.
In an interview Wednesday, Wolf said the hacking of computers in his Capitol Hill office began in August 2006. He says a computer at a House committee office also was hacked, and he suggested others in the House and possibly the Senate could be involved.
The Sons of Bitches leak and sell all OUR Intel anyway...
So the only impact as far as I can tell will be that The Useless Bastards will be blackmailed a little easier now... for the usual Congressional habits of stealing and for their perverted acts with other deviants like themselves..
How about the Dems paid the Chicoms to break in to get dirt on McCain from the PC's of his fellow Republicans, then leak it to the NYT in the form of "anonymous, high ranking Republican insiders."
The Vatican has created an anti-terrorist unit in order to guard the Holy See and the pope from a possible attack.
Vatican security forces now include an anti-bomb squad and a rapid response team, according to Domenico Giani, the head of the Holy See's 130-man gendarmerie. The Vatican will also work more closely with Interpol to gather information on any threats, he said.
The deal with Interpol, the pan-European police agency, will give the Vatican access to a large data bank of suspects and information on the latest anti-terrorism techniques.
"The teams report directly to the head of the Gendarmerie," said Mr Giani in an interview with L'Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper. "The rapid response team will carry out investigations across the spread of information channels and will be supported by a sophisticated technical team. It will be able to intervene immediately in case of danger," said Mr Gianni.
"The second group is made up of highly-specialised experts, armed with sophisticated and innovative technology," he added.
He said the two teams would not be confined to the Vatican, but would also travel with the pope. The Swiss Guards have also been given anti-terrorism training, and now carry SIG P75 pistols and Heckler-Koch MP5 sub-machine guns, as well as their traditional halberds.
Earlier this year, Osama bin Laden repeated threats against Pope Benedict, who he accused of "leading a crusade against Islam". The pope has been the subject of a series of attacks since 2006, when he used a quotation in a speech at Regensburg University that said Islam was an "evil and inhuman" religion.
Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded in St Peter's Square in 1983 by a Turkish gunman, Mehmet Ali Agca.
#1
The Swiss Guard have had modern weapons for decades : the uniforms and halberds are for show at Vatican City. Plus, most of the Swiss Guard are Special Forces qualified coming into the selection process - VERY high standards for the Swiss Guard since it is the ONLY legal mercenary force left to Swiss citizens. And there is the same sense of honor and accomplishment attached to getting into the Swiss Guard among Swiss Catholics as there is in getting into the British Gurkha units among the Nepalese.
#2
Worried about another muslim sacking of the Vatican?
Posted by: ed ||
06/11/2008 17:29 Comments ||
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#3
As seen already, ISLAMIST PROTO/PRE-NUCLEAR POLITIX > while IRAN PC denies any NucWeaps ambitions and intensifies inter-Muslim economic joint ventures wid former Soviet SSRs in CENTRAL ASIA, etc. Radical Islam militants at same time engage in new violent actions vv ISRAEL ]Lebanon-PA] + AFRICA.
VARIOUS NET POSTERS > opine that a POTUS OBAMA suppors UNILATERAL US GLOBAL MILFORS DRAWDOWN = REGIONAL WITHDRAWALS.
Hat tip LGF
In an editorial, the Saudi paper Al-Watan stated that U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is more capable than anyone else of bringing about change in U.S. policy, particularly in all things connected to the Middle East.
The Obama campaign and Democratic leaders accused Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) of being confused and heartless after he told NBCs Today show Wednesday that its not too important when U.S. troops return from Iraq.
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said on a quickly organized Obama conference call that McCains comment was unbelievably out of touch with the needs and concerns of most Americans, saying that to families of troops in harms way, To them, it's the most important thing in the world.
Kerry claimed an enormous, fundamental flaw in his candidacy for the presidency, which supposedly has hung on his strength as commander in chief and his understanding of foreign policy.
Susan Rice, an Obama foreign-policy adviser, accused McCain of a real disturbing, even disconcerting, pattern of confusing the basic facts and reality that pertain to Iraq.
The Today show statement, which McCain went on to explain, is damaging because Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has pledged to immediately begin withdrawing combat troops.
McCain, trying to mitigate the fallout from his January remarks that U.S. troops might be in Iraq for 100 years, predicted last month that most troops would be home by the end of his first term.
Trying to take the offense, McCains campaign posted a YouTube clip of the exchange. McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said: The Obama campaign is embarking on a false attack on John McCain to hide their own candidates willingness to disregard facts on the ground in pursuit of withdrawal no matter what the costs. John McCain was asked if he had a better estimate for a timeline for withdrawal.
As John McCain has always said, that is not as important as conditions on the ground and the recommendations of commanders in the field. Any reasonable person who reads the full transcript would see this and reject the Obama campaigns attempt to manipulate, twist and distort the truth.
The exchange that has Democrats licking their chops began when co-host Matt Lauer asked about the surge strategy in Iraq: If it's working Senator, do you now have a better estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq?
McCain replied: No, but that's not too important. Whats important is the casualties in Iraq, Americans are in South Korea, Americans are in Japan, American troops are in Germany. Thats all fine. American casualties and the ability to withdraw; we will be able to withdraw. General [David] Petraeus is going to tell us in July when he thinks we are.
But the key to it is that we don't want any more Americans in harm's way. That way, they will be safe, and serve our country and come home with honor and victory, not in defeat, which is what Senator Obama's proposal would have done. Im proud of them. And they're doing a great job. And we are succeeding and it's fascinating that Senator Obama still doesn't realize that.
One can see how the Democrats would twist his words to suit their purposes. I understood McCain perfectly, but then, I took the time to listen to what he said. Not many will do that.
Kerry, saying McCain is really having a debate with himself on Iraq, said the Today show comment was part of a policy for staying in Iraq and underscores the broad array of contradictions in John McCains statements about Iraq.
It is really becoming more crystal clear to a lot of Iraq that John McCain simply doesnt understand it that he confuses who Iran is training, he confuses what the makeup of al-Qaeda is, he confuses the history of what has happened between Sunni and Shia and how deep that current runs, Kerry said.
Rice criticized real confusion and lack of understanding of the situation in Iraq and, indeed, the larger region, that John McCain evidenced yet again in his comments on the Today show.
Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was first out of the gate with a statement, calling McCains comment a crystal clear indicator that he just doesnt get the grave national-security consequences of staying the course. We need a smart change in strategy to make America more secure, not a commitment to indefinitely keep our troops in an intractable civil war.
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) said McCain had displayed a fundamental misunderstanding about the situation in Iraq, our strained military, and American troops and their families.
#1
We stay until the job is done (terrorism out of the Middle East has been brought under control), so that those who fought and died there did not do so in vain, and so that another 9/11 does not occur again.
The left has shown no other effective alternative. If there is another effective alternative, why are they sitting on it?
#2
Now I understand why this is a big deal and was done early in the day -- Mr. Johnson's late afternoon resignation won't be the lead on the evening news ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2008 17:07 Comments ||
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#2
Usual BS title given by Times of London to an article that does not say what the title says. Bush regrets the rhetoric that led people to the impression that he and America were warmongers:
hrases such as bring them on or dead or alive, he said, indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace. He said that he found it very painful to put youngsters in harms way. He added: I try to meet with as many of the families as I can. And I have an obligation to comfort and console as best as I possibly can. I also have an obligation to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain.
He regrets talking like a Texan. He doesn't regret BEING a Texan.
#5
Look at how much he's aged...I've always found it remarkable that people fight like wild beasts for a job that takes 10 years off your life for every 4 in office.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
06/11/2008 9:43 Comments ||
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#6
Many of the quotes of Bush talking like a Texan weren't bad, if he ever stood up and defended them. Instead he'd say things and allow the barracuda in the media to pick things apart unmolested until the sharks came in and it was just a nightmare.
I mean responding to a journalist questioning the "wanted dead or alive" by saying we included the alive in there because we're civilized, I'm shocked you're so bloody minded and cruel.
Or "Of course we'd like them alive as well. It's harder but the feeling is the intelligence we could gain might be worth the risk, depending upon the circumstances. And the blow to Al Queda Morale would have to pretty hard don't you think?
Or lastly, Dead or Alive are two options. I suppose you'd prefer the other two, "Surrender or hide". Well mr chicken-shit journalist those aren't really good long term options so I wanted to be clear they aren't on the table.
Mocking your enemies can be very successful in framing an argument or debate.
#7
Bush should have started every answer with "Now, I'm not questioning your patriotism here. I would never do that." until that also became a sort of joke so that anyone saying their patriotism was questioned would get a chuckle instead of the knowing nods they get now because that meme has sunk in.
Any future terror attack against US interests would most likely be carried out by militants based in Pakistans restive tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen said on Tuesday.
The top military official told a press conference here that tribal groups with ties to Al Qaeda in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) represent the worst security threat to the US. I believe fundamentally that if the US is going to get hit, it is going to come out of the planning of the leadership in FATA, he told reporters. That is a threat to us that must be dealt with, Mullen said.
Pakistans government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, launched peace talks with the militants after coming to power in March.
The new government, Mullen said, faces significant challenges as it gets underway, and at the same time is looking to the best way to deal with this challenge.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
Are they sophisticated enough in the tribal belt to formulate and execute the kind of sophisticated approach necessary to successfully attack the United States?
#3
9/11 was planned from Afghanistan, which is why we went there in the first place. No surprise that threats from terrorists most likely come from safe havens like the FATA, which is Pakistani in name and not in governance.
#4
This puts all who travel to and from Pakistan under scrutiny, whether they are inbound to Europe or the US. It is a far harder problem for the Euros, especially the Brits, to deal with/monitor than it is for us.
(PTI) The Pakistan government today did a flip-flop on the issue of scrapping a controversial peace agreement with Taliban militants in the country's northwest, saying the pact was still intact.
Rehman Malik, the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Affairs, told a group of reporters yesterday that the deal signed last month with local Taliban in the restive Swat valley was being scrapped as the militants were continuing their attacks on security forces.
His comments came a day after four policemen were killed in an ambush in Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province. The attack was blamed on the local Taliban.
However, a spokesman of the interior ministry today said the Swat peace deal with the militants had not been scrapped. The spokesman refuted news items attributed to Malik and said the Advisor had only referred to "continued violent activities of militants".
The spokesman also said the peace deal was inked by the provincial government of the NWFP.
The NWFP government had reacted strongly to the reports of the scrapping of the pace deal, saying Malik should have consulted it before making such statements. Provincial ministers also said the federal government, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had been consulted before the agreement was signed.
The Taliban too had reacted angrily to the reports, threatening to turn cities like Islamabad into "battlefields" if the government scrapped the truce.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2008 00:00 ||
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NEW DELHI: Notwithstanding Pakistan's unilateral freeze on its defence spending and a request to others to follow, India on Tuesday hinted at doubling its defence expenditure as its current spend was much below the world average despite a booming economy.
Defence minister A K Antony on Tuesday said the modernization of armed forces was one of the top most priorities of the government. "Our defence budget is just 1.99% of the GDP, which is one of the lowest in the world. The ideal situation would be 3% of GDP, which is the global average," he added.
Antony's comments came just a day after Pakistan premier Yousuf Raza Gilani made a statement that his government had decided to reduce the defence budget and "hoped to see a reciprocal gesture from its neighbour for the sake of peace and prosperity of the region". Pakistan's current spending on defence is nearly 3% of its GDP at around Rs 275 billion.
Antony's remarks are not only a rebuff to Pakistan but seen as an assertion of the fact that India's strategic and defence preparedness are no more Pakistan oriented. The focus has shifted to China.
"Armed forces all over the world are modernizing and becoming technology intensive. We must adopt a joint approach, keeping in view the varied security challenges being faced by our nation," he said stressing on "integration of tri-service approach in thought and in action".
The defence minister said the country's most important challenge in the foreseeable future still remains the growing instability in its neighbourhood. He said India has continuously expressed serious concerns on cross-border terrorism and has reiterated the importance of Pakistan fulfiling its commitment against terrorism. Antony said it is yet to be seen whether the recently formed government in Pakistan is able to address issues of national security, religious fundamentalism and cross-border terrorism effectively.
He warned that forces within J&K and those outside, who do not want successful conduct of elections and peace in the state, will try their best to disrupt the democratic process. "We will have to keep a constant vigil and intensify our efforts to ensure conduct of free and fair elections in an atmosphere of peace," he said.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/11/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Current US defense spending is also 3% of GDP, while 4% is being urged. In comparision, the United states spent 7.5% of GDP during the Cold War.
#2
#1 Current US defense spending is also 3% of GDP, while 4% is being urged. In comparision, the United states spent 7.5% of GDP during the Cold War. Posted by: Ptah 2008-06-11 09:27
Yes, and we won the Cold War because Russia, who was spending almost 15% of its GDP couldn't produce either the quantity or quality of weapons necessary to confront the US. We should still be spending 4% or more of our GDP on the military, for the simple reason that the world is a hostile place, and we need to be prepared for whatever happens. Unfortunately, a major party in our government doesn't believe we need weapons - that we can talk our way through anything. Roosevelt's words are applicable here - "Speak softly, but carry a big stick". The Democrats have allowed our "stick" to be shortened, considerably.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/11/2008 15:11 Comments ||
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#3
I'm not sure we need to spend more money, but we sure need to spend more intelligently. F-22s, DDG1000s, LCS and all the other cold war style nation-state warfare weapons are not the highest and best use of limited resources.
My only regret is that Gates doesn't get to stay around a lot longer. He really seems to be shaking things up the right way, which is a lot more than I ever expected from career CIA.
#4
NS - I was envisioning an expansion of combat forces, rather than just a bunch of new hardware. We need several additional divisions, so we can fight on as many fronts as A-Q and the rest of the islamonutz choose, and still have enough reserves to spell our fighting forces when they become exhausted. Weaponry is fine, but if you don't have trigger-pullers, it's useless.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/11/2008 16:22 Comments ||
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#5
Agree completely. This is a war of boots on the ground. That's where we should be spending the money. Maybe even give the rifleman a weapon that's not a half century old, too.
#6
I will probably get flamed for saying this but the M-16 design as modified over the past 30 years is still functional and acceptable. What needs to be changed is the caliber in use : 5.56mm is just too small, has bullets that are too lightweight, and is too short-ranged for today's combat. Way too many confirmed reports of having to hit the enemy with 3 or 4 rounds to do a takedown. The caliber can easily be bumped up to a 6.8mm or 6.5 Grendel, thereby retaining the lower receivers and all the muscle memory and training associated with them. Just replace the upper receivers, the magazines and the ammo itself. And the changeover could be done for less than the cost of a single DDG1000. Plus the leftover 5.56mm ammo could be sent back to the States to be linked and then used in the SAWs presently issued. Within a couple of years, all new SAWs would have to be in the new caliber but the SAW in 5.56mm is a very effective weapon right now.
#7
the M-16 design as modified over the past 30 years is still functional and acceptable.
The same could be said for the F-15 and the DDG-51. I do think a variety of weapons for the infantryman is advisable. And a far lower maintenance device than the M-16 could be developed. It would have been if Generals had to use it daily.
ISLAMABAD: Announcing a cut in Pakistans defence expenditure, prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday said it was a tangible display of its desire for peace with its neighbours and indicated that he wanted India to reciprocate the move. Making a policy statement in parliament, Gilani said: As a measure of our tangible display to seek peace with our neighbours, we have decided to freeze, actually reduce, the defence budget when seen in the context of inflation and the rupee-dollar parity.
Without naming India, he added: We hope to see a reciprocal gesture from our neighbour for the sake of peace and prosperity of the region.
The Pakistani premier, however, did not give a figure on the proposed reduction in the defence budget which was Rs 275 billion last year and equal to nearly three per cent of Pakistans GDP.
Gilanis statement came in the backdrop of a major financial crisis faced by Pakistan. Rising global food and oil prices have fuelled double-digit inflation since Gilanis Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition came to power in March. Outlining the basic tenets of the countrys security policy, Gilani said Pakistans defence is based on the strategy of minimum, essential and credible deterrence and that we shall not enter into any arms race.
Noting that Pakistan is located in a geo-strategically important but a turbulent region, he said, We live and operate in a volatile environment. We cannot, therefore, afford to remain oblivious to our defence needs.
I wish to categorically state that Pakistan stands for peace with honour. We shall continue to strive for it without compromising on our national interests, Gilani said. He also announced a new mode for presenting the countrys defence budget in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament. Currently, the budget of the three services, ordnance factories and other defence establishments is presented as a one line allocation.
It is not approved separately but in a consolidated form for all defence services. After approval of the budget, ministry of defence apportions the allocation to the three services and other defence organisation, Gilani remarked. My government has now decided to present the defence budget estimate in a format reflecting the estimated expenditure under major heads in the parliament. I am pleased to inform you that the ministry of defence and chief of army staff have fully endorsed the revised format of the defence services budget estimates, he said. The PPP and its ally PML-N had earlier said that they would break from tradition to debate the defence budget in parliament.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/11/2008 00:00 ||
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"A lot of officers refused to come here," says Iraqi Army Brigadier General Ali Jassim Mohammed Hassen al-Frejee describing how, in November 2004, he became the battalion commander of the area surrounding Lutufiyah, a town 18 miles south of Baghdad that had become one of Iraq's worst nests of insurgent activity and sectarian violence. "It was a dark time."
Featuring one of the most volatile social and religious dynamics in the country, the area is dotted with Shi'a urban centers surrounded by Sunni farming communities. The Sunni tribes, many of whom were favored under Saddam's regime, became early allies of al-Qaeda in Iraq, while the Shi'as increasingly aligned themselves with Muqtada al-Sadr, his Mahdi Army and its many more extreme offshoots. Two major highways from the south bisect the region, making it a favored way-station for anyone ferrying money, fighters or weapons into or out of Baghdad. Locals were often forced to join a side or suffer kidnapping, extortion or murder as the area frequently broke out into low-grade civil war.
But after nearly four years of continuous fighting, the area is now one of the safest in the country. as a result of increasingly sophisticated counterinsurgency techniques and close co-operation between the Iraqi and American armies. The success here may be a model for Iraqi-U.S. Army cooperation in the future, and many American commanders in the region attribute a large part of the success to "General Ali's" skill as a professional soldier. "He has been here from the beginning," says Lieutenant Colonel William Zemp, the U.S. commander of a unit that works daily with General Ali's men, "The pacification of this area is his struggle, it is his story."
Promoted to general in May 2007, Ali now commands the 7,000 soldiers of the 25th Brigade of the Iraqi 6th Army Division who defend the 20-mile band south of Baghdad between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Although the Iraqi Army is plagued by charges that many units are not fit for battle, U.S. officers say that is not the case with the 25th Brigade. "Are they ever going to maneuver and fire like American troops? If that is your yardstick, then probably not for a very long time," says Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Rohling, who is in charge a U.S. battalion on the western side of General Ali's region. "But they are competent, they fight, and their first loyalty is to the Iraqi Army. Plus, they are far better at things like searching houses, finding hiding places and interrogating detainees than we are."
Not yet 40-years old, the chain-smoking Ali grew up in Baghdad, the third generation son of a military family. Graduating in the top 10 of the Iraqi military college in 1988, he fought against coalition forces as the executive officer of a commando battalion around Baghdad's airport during the invasion of 2003, before quitting on April 9 as the Iraqi army crumbled. Rejoining the army in March 2004, he quickly established himself as one of the rising stars of the new military due to his aggressive instincts ("My tactics are simple," he says. "Whenever we see the enemy, we go after them,"), and his uncompromising belief that the future of Iraq must be non-secular. A Shi'a, he is married to a Sunni, and one of his sons is named Omar, a distinctively Sunni name. Accusations of pro-Shi'a bias have plagued the Army (which is predominantly Shi'a) since its post-Saddam reconstruction, but Ali says he does not tolerate any favoritism among his soldiers.
He bristles at one American-supported strategy. Much of the peace in the area also stems from the deployment of the "Sons of Iraq," armed Sunni security groups funded by the U.S. Ali grudgingly acknowledges their role. However, even the name makes him testy. "I hate this name. Are we not all Sons of Iraq? I call them volunteers. They have helped securing the peace, yes, but there is only one army and one police force and at some point, these people will have to become a part of these forces."
His own mainly Shi'a units demonstrated a loyalty to secularist ideals during the Sadr Uprising instigated by the Mahdi Army that engulfed several cities in late March. While many Iraqi soldiers in Basra and Baghdad either refused to take up arms against other Shi'as, or even handed over their weapons to them, General Ali's soldiers in Mahmudiya, the largest city in the area, stuck through five days of heavy fighting that killed five Iraqi soldiers and 25 insurgents. Ali threw approximately 1,000 Iraqi soldiers into the battle, devised and directed their missions to clear the city, and visited the battlefronts repeatedly to provide firm leadership presence. "This was Shi'a soldiers fighting Shi'a militias, and the soldiers never wavered," says General Ali. Colonel Zemp says that while the U.S. Army provided intelligence, air support, and 150 reinforcement troops, the Iraqi Army spearheaded the effort. "The battle was General Ali's crowning achievement so far. It showed both Shi'a extremists and the people of the city that the Iraqi Army is not just the area's legitimate authority in theory, but that it is in charge in reality."
A major downside of General Ali's non-partisan stance is that he makes enemies from many parties. When, in April, the residents of Mahmudiya began uncovering mass graves of dozens of mostly Sunni bodies, a television station with ties to the Sunni Islamic Party accused General Ali of having a hand in the killings. General Ali's troops had raided the Islamic Party's Mahmudiya headquarters earlier in the year, uncovering a cache of weapons and explosives. A committee appointed by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki exonerated the general. An internal U.S. Army report similarly concluded that there was no evidence of Iraqi Army involvement and that the Mahdi Army was most likely responsible.
Threats in the city are far from fully quelled. Every day, joint Iraqi and U.S. Army patrols gather intelligence and raid suspected insurgents' homes. Recent tips suggest that Shi'a extremists are planning another armed attack on the city or high-profile assassinations of city leaders.
General Ali makes no excuses for being a patriot and a pragmatist. While he goes out of his way to praise his U.S. co-commanders and their soldiers and to thank the families of America who have sent their sons to fight and die in an unpopular foreign war he ultimately sees America's input as a means to an end. "I am an Iraqi," he says. "I want Iraq to be independent and strong. And the best way for me to help make that happen is to work with the coalition forces. That is the best path for the future I want for Iraq."
#1
ION WAFF.com Thread > GULFNEWS > NEW US-IRAQI SECURITY AGREMENT ALLOWS US TO STRIKE ANY COUNTRY AT WILL FROM IRAQ. Artci alleges that US does indeed sek several PERMANENT BASES inside Iraq, wid major Iraqi Govt Security-Defense agencies to be placed under US control for at least 10 years???
(VOI) - Iraqi Central Criminal Court (ICCC) on Tuesday announced 14 suspects would be tried on charges of crushing the Sadr City uprising that erupted after the assassination of the Shiite cleric Mohammed Saqid al-Sadr in 1999. 14 suspects will be brought to court on July 21 for crushing the popular uprising in Sadr City in 1999 following the assassination of Grand Ayatollah Mohamed Sadiq al-Sadr, Judge Muneer Haddad, investigation judge for the ICCC, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).
The judge noted the major suspects include Tariq Aziz, former deputy prime minister of Saddam Husseins regime, Husseins step brothers Watban al-Hassan and Sabawi al-Hassan, in addition to Ugla Sagar, regional commander of the Baath party and Sabir Aziz al-Douri, former chief of military intelligence.
Sadr City, the sprawling Shiite slum, saw an uprising staged by the followers of top cleric Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr following the assassination of the pontiff in Najaf 1999 while he was returning home at the hands of the former Iraqi intelligence. Saddam Husseins security forces and Baath party members intervened to crush the uprising near al-Muhsin and al-Hikma mosques, killing scores of al-Sadr followers.
Anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is the son of the assassinated Mohamed Sadiq al-Sadr, and inherited his fathers legacy and his broad-based support of followers.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2008 00:00 ||
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I hope there's a penalty clause for when they violate parole after a week.
Hamas has already said that they want the truce so as to have time to re-arm. Israel apparently wants to let them do that.
Israeli leaders decided Wednesday against mounting a major attack on militants in the Gaza Strip, saying they would give Egypt more time to broker a truce with the territory's Hamas rulers.
But with bloodshed on both sides, including the death of a 6-year-old Gaza girl, the government said it would push ahead with preparations for a possible invasion and keep attacking Palestinian militants to try to stop daily rocket and mortar barrages on southern Israel.
Israeli aircraft fired a missile at militants in northern Gaza, but it hit a house instead, killing 6-year-old Hadeel al-Smari in the backyard, according to an Associated Press Television News crew that saw her body. Israel's military said its forces identified hitting the rocket squad and it was unaware of any civilian casualties. It blamed the militants for setting up rocket launchers in crowded neighborhoods.
Which is what the 'militants' always do ...
A relative of the dead girl said Palestinian civilians are affected harshly by Israeli attacks. "Our lives are hell. We cannot sleep or enjoy peace in our houses because of the army fire," Ahmad al-Smari said by telephone from the hospital in the Gaza town of Khan Younis.
In parallel, Israelis who live near Gaza are clamoring for their government to take action to stop militant barrages that disrupt lives and cause casualties.
But Israel's Security Cabinet, made up of senior ministers, deflected pressure to order the army into Gaza immediately. Instead, it authorized Defense Minister Ehud Barak to "exhaust the dialogue with Egypt in order to achieve all of Israel's conditions for an actual calm." At the same time, however, the Security Cabinet instructed commanders "to prepare for military action in the Gaza Strip, according to a rapid timetable, should the Cabinet convene and make a decision to this effect," according to a government statement.
The order added that progress toward releasing an Israeli soldier who has been held by Hamas for two years must be part of a cease-fire deal.
There was no immediate Egyptian comment on the Israeli decision.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri accused Israel of double-talk.
And who would know about double-talk better than a Hamas minister?
"The government wants to maneuver and blackmail the Palestinian factions while continuing its daily aggression," Abu Zuhri said.
Israel is skeptical of a cease-fire, assuming Hamas would use any lull to rearm and regroup particularly since the militants themselves say they would use a truce to prepare for more fighting. Hamas does not accept the presence of a Jewish state in an Islamic Middle East and has sent dozens of suicide bombers into Israel.
Speaking before the Security Cabinet vote, Vice Premier Haim Ramon said there could be both a truce and an invasion. "Even those who support the calm say it would only last a month or two, and then Hamas will violate it," Ramon told Army Radio. "Then we will launch the military operation. Everybody agrees that it is just a matter of when."
Palestinian caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad signed an agreement with the World Bank today for the transfer of $40 million in budget support for the Palestinian Authority. The Bank says the grant falls in the framework of Fayyad's Palestinian Reform and Development Plan (PRDP).
Fayyad, who was appointed as prime minister in 2007, worked for the World Bank in Washington, DC from 1987 to 1995. The World Bank said that budget support is a central component of ongoing World Bank efforts to support the PRDP, which was presented to the international donor community in Paris in December 2007.
An additional $110 million have been disbursed since April 2008 to the Palestinian Authority's (PA) Central Treasury Account through the PRDP Trust Fund (PRDP-TF), to which Norway, the UK, Australia, Finland and France have contributed, the Bank said. "This grant aims to support the PA's efforts to accelerate the implementation of reforms described in the PRDP, especially those aimed at strengthening its fiscal position and improving public financial management," said David Craig, World Bank Country Director for the West Bank and Gaza. "These reforms are critical for continued international donor support and will serve as fundamental building blocks of the future Palestinian State," he further added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2008 00:00 ||
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#5
"This grant aims to support the PA's efforts to accelerate the implementation of reforms described in the PRDP, especially those aimed at strengthening its fiscal position and improving public financial management," said David Craig, World Bank Country Director for the West Bank and Gaza.
Thanks, David. See ya again in about six months...
#6
Golda Meir said: "There will be no peace until they love their children more than they hate us".
Wrong!
There will no peace until the Westen countries stop subsidizing the Palestinians.
Our subsidizing has ahas as aconqsequences:
1) Palestinians don't need to work or develop their country. They can put all their efforst on terrorism. All the money we give baseides basic needs goes to terrorism. In fact the HAmas-OLP people have an interest in Paleos having no other perspective and nothing else to do than terrorism. that is why they destroyed the greenhouses.
Cutting international funding would be a big step for peace
2) A Palestian woman said: "I want to have plenty of children and them becoming suicide bombers". This kind of things work because we pay for their upbringing. If Paleos had to pay for the upbringing of their children they would have less of them. Less children means that everyone of them has more value and vcannot longer be considered as expendable ammunition.
3) Our money is being used for making an, education system who teaches not marketble skils but brainwashes Palestinin children from a so tender age as three into a genocidical hate who has no precedents. Not even in the Nazi era. We cannot hope there will ever be peace if we continue to subsidize this schol of genocide.
4) Arab countries have cynically expelled towards Gaza and trhe WXest Bank those Palestinians who wanted to live from their work instead of from our money. "So they don't forget theirb identity" was the explanation. Read, so they never stop to try eradicationg Israel. They can do that becauise we will fund those additional refugees. Let's us place the bill at their doors. Either they pay and expalin to thir citizens what use it is given to their taxes or they don't and Palestinians will stop dreaming in Arab support to destroy Israel.
5) In every negotiation you need a mix of carrot and stick if you want the other side to mlake a deal and stick to it. The fact is that no matter what the Palestins do or don't, no matter how they renege what tehy have signed we continue paying. It means that they think they can continue theit terrorist war indefinitely. Indefintely until the destruction of Israel and the genocide of its inhabitants (cf above for the eduction to geniocide). We have to make them understand that no, they cannot indefinitely, that our patience is ending.
The runaway leader of the al-Qaida-inspired Fatah Islam group lashed out at Lebanon's Sunni politicians and the country's Shiite Hezbollah hard boys, and threatened kabooms in a new audio posted Tuesday on the Internet and carried by Lebanese television stations.
Shaker Youssef al-Absi said in the recording that time has now come for Dire Revenge against the "enemies of God" and added that kaboomers were ready for action. The authenticity of audio, posted on a web site commonly used by hard boys, could not be independently verified.
It was the second posting by al-Absi, sentenced to death earlier this year by a Lebanese court for a 2007 double bus bombings that killed three people and wounded 20. Al-Absi remains on the lam after escaping last September from fierce fighting between Fatah Islam and the Lebanese army at the Nahr el-Bared Paleostinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.
Also in the audio, al-Absi claimed that Lebanese Sunni leaders and the head of the Shiite Hezbollah hard boy group, Hassan Nasrallah, seek to split the Sunni Muslim community, allegedly acting on American and Iranian orders to do this.
He also criticized the Lebanese army for not taking any action when Hezbollah fighters and their allies took over much of Muslim west Beirut from pro-government Sunni gunmen during bitter fighting last month that brought Lebanon close to a new civil war.
A Jordanian of Paleostinian origin, al-Absi specifically named Western-backed Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, and Parliament majority leader Saad Hariri, along with the Hezbollah chief in the audio. He also criticized Paleostinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is a Sunni. Their goal, he alleged, "is the same and it is to humiliate and split the nation of monotheism," a reference to Sunni Islam. "One side takes orders from (U.S. President George W.) Bush while the other takes orders from the Satan's ayatollahs in Tehran," he said, referring to top Shiite clerics in Iran, adding that Sunni "lions of monotheism will destroy the enemies of God, whoever they are .... The enemies of God will not be safe from the booby-traps of Iraq and the boomer battalions, wherever they are."
Earlier this month, Fatah Islam claimed responsibility for a May 31 explosion that killed a Lebanese soldier in the northern town of Abdeh near the devastated Nahr el-Bared camp.
Lebanese authorities have said that 222 Fatah Islam hard boys were killed in the Nahr el-Bared fighting and more than 200 were arrested, while 169 Lebanese soldiers died. Paleostinian officials said 47 Paleostinian civilians also died in the camp as Lebanese army besieged the hard boys holed up inside.
Also Tuesday, an Islamic hard boy who was seriously wounded in the Paleostinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh in southern Lebanon died of his wounds, security officials said. Jalal Hassanein, a 27-year-old Paleostinian, was shot by unknown assailants Monday night, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
acting on American and Iranian orders
I wonder what he's been smoking?
The British court has given former Iranian envoy Nosratollah Tajik time, until June 11, to seek medical aid before extraditing him to US. Iran's former ambassador to Jordan, Nosratollah Tajik, who suffers from heart disease, is currently under police custody.
Tajik, arrested in November 2006, was accused of trying to purchase night vision goggles for Iran from US mediators. According to British media reports, undercover FBI agents who were acting as international military equipment dealers offered to sell Tajik night vision goggles valued over £50,000 while secretly filming him. Tajik and his lawyers argue that the US agents planned to incriminate him from the beginning, as they were not following a legitimate lead.
Tajik, a citizen of Coxhoe, Durham County, who completed his diplomatic mission in 2003, retired to England, with his family, to finish a PhD course, joining the Durham University as an honorary lecturer. In April 2008, the British High Court upheld a former ruling that Tajik should be sent to the US to face charges, forcing his legal team to launch an appeal.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Surely if the mighty Iranian military can develop and mass produce fighter airplanes, ICBMs, supersonic underwater torpedoes, missile defense systems and nuclear bombs then they wouldn't need to buy this sort of stuff, would they? /sarc
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Vatican has created an anti-terrorist unit in order to guard the Holy See and the pope from a possible attack. 
The Obama campaign and Democratic leaders accused Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) of being confused and heartless after he told NBCs Today show Wednesday that its not too important when U.S. troops return from Iraq. 
Palestinian caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad signed an agreement with the World Bank today for the transfer of $40 million in budget support for the Palestinian Authority. The Bank says the grant falls in the framework of Fayyad's Palestinian Reform and Development Plan (PRDP).
